From Ercu City, you headed west. You, a dimensional traveler in the body of a ten year old girl and BeastMon Trainer, and your merry team of Beasties: Annie the Heatguana, in fact herself a dimensional traveler, and the Pudgy Racer, the most normal one of all.
Racer was bewildered, as they marched right onto Route 22. She couldn´t read, but Annie said it out loud, and the birdie was agape.
„Twenty-two? Why is there a Route such as this?“
„Why not?“, asked Annie, already slightly annoyed about the Pudgy outside of her BeastCube.
„Just put her in her little dice“, she had said to you, but you had ignored her, enjoying the company of the wee little beastie. So Racer was free. She was free to talk and to ask questions, and she used this privilege to the fullest.
„Well, is one Route not enough?“, she claimed. „I mean, I didn´t know about this other Route-nonsense.“
„You thought, there would be only one Route in the world? Or that, in fact, Route 1 WOULD BE the whole world?“, Annie shot back.
„... M-maybe …?“
„You have wings, you could have flown up and take a look.“
„I never flew so high to check about that, but ...“
„You are a bird brain“, Annie gnarled, „and I wish, we would play this like a Nuzlocke.“
„Now, be nice to each other“, you snipped in. You were currently in the meek body of a preteen girl, but in comparison to your comrades you were clearly the caretaker. A babysitter, roaming the wilderness with a pair of slightly animalised toddlers.
„But why Twenty-Two?“, you asked. "What about the forest, and the first gym and all of that?"
„Because“, Annie responded sternly, „I have played games like this before.“
„I did, too!“
„Yes, once a few years before. But I, I know exactly that we must go here.“
„If you say so“, you gave in, slightly embarrassed in front of Racer, who seemed blissflully unaware about the whole leadership-thing.
Your journey had begun a few hours ago: After your lost battle with Rick, you had taken a break by your game mum, before marching of into the sunset. In the meantime, your rival had done the work of a true protagonist: He had delivered a particular parcel from the Mart in Ercu City, partially because he couldn´t avoid the clerk, wo was pretty persistent about the stupid box. So, Rick plodded back down to Rainbow Town, jumping little ledges like a madman, and delivering the goodies of a plotline you had harshly ignored. And then, Rick went just back up, exploring the world. In the meanwhile, you hadn´t even left your home.
Rick truly was, under his rough skin, a nice guy. And energetic, too. He even went to Route 22, scouting the way ahead but finding the gates to the BeastMon League firmly closed for everyone without the eight badges. So he turned, and then, he stumbled upon you.
„Oh hey, Lucy!“, he greeted, „Look at that. What an unlikely place for a meeting, isn´t it?“
At your side, Annie rolled her shoulders and cracked her knuckles. She didn´t even feign suprise.„Time“, she snarled, „for revenge.“